Tow-forming apparatus



June 20, 1967 B. J. EDNEY 5,

TOW-FORMING APPARATUS L Filed Aug. 27, 1965 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Inuemor 3'. Eclne y June 20, 1967 EDNEY 3,325,874

TOW-FORMING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 27, 1965 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG. 2

Q Q fm/enfor' Harry S E'clrlf' June 20, 1967 B. J. EDNEY TOW-FORMING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 27, 1965 United States Patent 3,325,874 TOW-FORMING APPARATUS Barry J. Edney, Birmingham, England, assignor to Dunlop Rubber Company Limited, London, England, a British company Filed Aug. 27, 1965, Ser. No. 483,146 Claims priority, application Great Britain, Sept. 10, 1964, 37,014/ 64 14 Claims. (Cl. 281) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A tow-forming apparatus for forming a tow of a desired width by assembling one or more sheets of textile yarns or filaments into the tow, comprising at least one pair of lease rods arranged in parallel and side-by-side relationship and attached at each end to a circular carriage which is rotatable and which is arranged in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the sheet or sheets of textile yarns or filaments to be assembled into the tow. The lease rods may suitably be attached to the circular carriage by means of carrying members which may be formed by the ends of one of the rods, so that the lease rods extend parallel to a diameter of the circular carriage.

This invention relates to tow-forming apparatus and particularly to a tow-forming apparatus for forming a tow of the desired width by assembling one or more sheets of textile filaments into the tow.

The textile filaments in the sheet or sheets may be in the form of yarns, if desired.

According to the present invention, a tow-forming apparatus for forming a tow of the desired width by assembling one or more sheets of textile yarns or filaments into the tow comprises at least one pair of lease rods arranged in parallel and side by side relationship and attached at each end to a circular carriage which is rotatable and which is to be arranged in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the sheet or sheets of textile yarns or filaments to be assembled into the tow, said lease rods being attached to said circular carriage so that the lease rods extend parallel to a diameter of the circular carriage.

When the apparatus is in use one or more sheets of the textile yarns or filaments to be formed into the tow are passed between the lease rods and the sheet or sheets are condensed to form a narrow tow. The circular carriage is arranged in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the sheet or sheets of textile yarns or filaments to be assembled into the tow so that longitudinal axis of the circular carriage is substantially parallel to the plane of the sheet or sheets. The circular carriage is rotatable through an angle of at least 90, and usually will be rotatable through 360. The lease rods which are attached to the carriage are disposed parallel to a diameter of the circular carriage.

Preferably, the circular carriage is also arranged so that a diameter thereof extends in a direction transverse the sheet or sheets of textile yarns or filaments to be assembled into the tow at an angle of 90 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets, although if desired the carriage can be arranged so that a diameter thereof extends transverse the sheet or sheets at any angle of from 60 to 90 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets, while the plane of the carriage is substantially perpendicular to the plane of the sheet or sheets.

The circular carriage is rotatable and enables the width of the resulting tow to be controlled. When the carriage is positioned so that the pair of lease rods is disposed perpendicular to the plane of the sheet or sheets, and in a plane transverse the sheet or sheets of yarns or filaments at an angle of with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets, the yarns or filaments will be assembled into a tow of width equal to the separation of the lease rods. When the carriage is positioned in a plane transverse the sheet or sheets at 90 with respect to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets in such a way that the lease rods are disposed at an angle of less than 90 to the plane of the sheet or sheets to be formed into a tow, then the yarns or filaments will be assembled into a tow of width greater than the separation of the lease rods, the width of the tow increasing as the angle between the lease rods and the plane of the sheet or sheets decreases from 90 to 0.

In using the apparatus, the circular carriage is rotated until a tow of the desired width is obtained, and is then locked in position by any suitable means, for instance a grub screw which secures the circular carriage to its support. The circular carriage can be rotatably mounted in any suitable support which will usually be a flat, plate fastened to the framework in which the apparatus is assembled.

The pair of lease rods is attached to the circular carriage so that they are disposed parallel to, and usually one oneither side of, a diameter of the circular carriage. The lease rods can be attached to the carriage directly, or they may be attached by means of carrying members. Usually, and preferably, the lease rods will be carried on carrying members, one at each end of the lease rods, the carrying- In this case the longer lease rod is bent so that the ends of the lease rod which form the carrying members are preferably-disposed coaxial with the axis of the pair of lease rods. The shorter lease rod is preferably attached at each end to the longer lease rod, for example by welding if the lease rods are made of metal, both rods being bent so that a substantially rectangular aperture is formed by them.

The ends of the carrying members are attached to the circular carriage by any suitable means, for example by clamping them on to the flat surface at one end of the cylinder forming the circular carriage, and are preferably attached so as to the rotatable. The carrying membersi should preferably be coaxial with the axis of the pair of the angle between the plane of the pair of lease rods and the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets of textile yarns or filaments. When the pair of lease rods is positioned transverse the sheet or sheets in a plane perpendicular to the sheet or sheets of yarns or filaments and at 90 with respect to the longitudinal axis 'of the sheet or sheets,

then the yarns or filaments can be drawn between the.

lease rods in a substantially straight path with a small tension, or in a sinuous path with a large tension. When the pair of lease rods is disposed transverse the sheet or sheets in a plane perpendicular to the sheet or sheets and parallel to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets then the tension required to draw the yarns or filaments between the lease rods is intermediate the small tension and the large tension required (as explained above) when the lease rods are in a plane transverse the sheet or sheets at 90 to the longitudinal axis of the sheet or sheets. In using the apparatus the carrying members are caused to rotate (to cause the lease rods to revolve) until the desired tension is produced in the yarns or filaments and then the carrying members are locked in position by any suitable means such as grub screws.

Two or more pairs of lease rods may be provided if desired, the pairs being in side by side relationship. By providing two or more pairs of lease rods, more than one tow can be produced simultaneously since each pair of lease rods provides a separate tow. The lease rods can be formed of any suitable material e.g. metal or wood.

The tow-forming apparatus can be used to produce a tow in any application where it is desired to form a tow from one or more sheets of textile yarns or filaments, and is particularly suitable for forming the tow during preparation of a fibre felt by the method described in U.S. Patent specification No. 3,235,935. In this patent specification there is described and claimed a method of making a felt which comprises assembling under tension in substantially-aligned relationship continuous man-made fibres capable of being retracted into a crimped condition, relaxing the fibres into a crimped condition to form a mat in which the crimped continuous fibers extend substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mat, and effecting consolidation of the mat by needling with barbed needles. It is also described that the man-made fibres are preferably formed into a tow which is subsequently allowed to expand in width during relaxation of the man-made fibre-s into a crimped condition. The formation and subsequent expansion in Width of a tow, as described, results in a mat of fibres in which a high degree of intermingling of the fibres is obtained.

The man-made filaments which are used to produce the felt using the apparatus of this invention will usually be crimped continuous filaments which are assembled, under a tension sufiicient to temporarily remove the crimp, into one or more sheets, and subsequently into a tow. Such filaments relax into a crimped condition when the tension is released and relaxation of the filaments causes the tow of filaments to expand in width.

Examples of suitable filaments are thermoplastic filaments such as polyethylene terephthalate which can be crimped by false twisting (in which the filament is twisted, heat seat whilst twisted, and then untwisted), by stuffer box treatment (in which the filament is heated in a crushed condition) or by edge crimping (in which the filament is heated and then passed over a cooled knife edge).

Alternatively, filaments having potential crimp by virtue of their chemical composition can be assembled and the filaments can be relaxed into a crimped condition, for example by wetting and subsequently removing the wetting agent. Examples of such filaments are rayon having an unbalanced skin structure, or nylon having disulphide and polyalkylene sulphide cross-links. A further example is rayon which can be crimped by cross-linking, for example using a urea-formaldehyde resin or by steam-setting in lieu of the heat-setting step employed in the case of a thermoplastic filament.

One form of tow-forming apparatus according to the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which FIGURE 1 shows a front elevation of a tow-forming apparatus provided with four pairs of lease rods,

FIGURE 2 shows a side elevation of the tow-forming apparatus taken along the line A-A shown in FIGURE 1, and' FIGURE 3 shows a perspective view of an apparatus for making a felt, including in it the tow forming apparatus shown in FIGURES 1 and 2.

Referring to the drawings, a tow-forming apparatus has four pairs, 1, 2, 3 and 4 of lease rods mounted in side by side relationship on a circular carriage 5. Each pair of lease rods "(as shown in FIGURE 2 for the pair 1 of lease rods), consists of one lease rod 6 and a second lease rod 7 which is shorter than the lease rod 6 and which is welded to the lease rod 6 at points 8 and 9 so that the ends 10 and 11 of the lease rod 6 act as carrying members for that pair. It is to be understood that each pair, 1, 2 3 and 4 of lease rods has the same construction. The pairs of lease rods are attached to the circular carriage 5 by means of bars 12 and 13 which are attached to the end face of the circular carriage 5 by means of bolts 14. Each bar, 12 and 13, is provided with apertures (not shown in the drawings) to engage the ends (10 and 11 of the pair 1) of the pairs of lease rods, and a screw 15 is provided for locking theends of each pair of lease rods within the aperture in the bars 12 and 13.

The circular carriage 5 is rota-tably mounted in a metal plate 16, and a screw 17 (shown in FIGURE 2) is provided for locking the circular carriage 5 in any desired position. The metal plate 16 is attached to a bar 18 of rectangular cross-section and to a cylindrical rod 19, the bar 18 and the rod 19 being attached to the sides 20 and 21 of the framework in which the apparatus is mounted. The metal plate 16 is attached to the bar 18 by means of bolts 22 which pass through horizontal slots 23 in the plate 16, and to the rod 19 by means of clamps 24 each of which has a threaded portion 25. The threaded portion 25 of each clamp 24 passes through a vertical slot 2-6 in the plate 16 and locking nuts 27 and 28 are provided for clamping the plate 16 in position. Each clamp 24 comprises two halves 29 and 30, the two halves being held together by means of bolts 31 which pass through the half 29 into the half 30.

The 'bar 18 is attached to the sides 20 and 21 of the framework in which the apparatus is mounted, by means of bolts 32 which pass through vertical slots 33 in extension members 34 which are bolted to the sides 20 and 21 of the framework by means of bolts 35. The vertical slots 33 in conjunction with the vertical slots 26 in the metal plate 16 enable vertical movement of the plate 16 (and hence of the circular carriage 5). Horizontal movement of the plate 16 (and hence of the circular carriage 5) is allowed by means of the horizontal slots 23 in the plate 16 and the clamps 24- Which, when not locked in position by means of the bolts 31, are slidable on the rod 18.

In use, the tow-forming apparatus is arranged so that the circular carriage 5 is in a plane substantially at right angles to the plane of the sheet or sheets to be assembled into a tow, and this arrangement is illustrated in FIG- URE 3 of the drawings. FIGURE 3 shows an apparatus for making felt, and the tow-forming apparatus of the present invention is shown in position between the sides 20 and 21 of the framework in which it is mounted. A number of parallel rollers 50 are also mounted between the sides 20 and 21 of the framework, the rollers being arranged in two layers or sets. Adjacent the rollers 50 is an arcuate rod 51 to assist spreading of the tow when the apparatus is in use. Infra-red heaters 52 are provided to heat the filaments as the latter relax into a crimped condition, and a conveyor belt 54 carried on driven rollers 55 and 56 is provided for feeding the relaxed filaments between a needle head 57 carrying barbed needles 58 and a needle plate 59 having apertures 60 therein to receive the barbed needles 58 when the needling head 57 is oscillated in a vertical movement. Nip rollers 61 and '62 are provided for drawing the resulting felt from the apparatus.

In using the apparatus shown in FIGURE 3, two sheets 63 and 64 of crimped continuous textile filaments 65 are drawn under tension between the lease rods of one pair of lease rods to produce a tow 66 of thefilaments. As explained hereinbefore, the width of the tow 66 and the tension applied to the filaments 65 can be controlled by adjusting the circular carriage 5 and the lease rods. When the desired width and tension have been attained, the lease rods and the circular carriage are locked in position.

The tow 66 is passed in a sinuous path over the rollers 50 and then over the arcuate rod 51 so that the tow is caused to increase in width. The filaments 65 are at the same time allowed to relax by releasing the tension applied to them, relaxation being assisted by heating the filaments by means of the infra-red heaters 52. The mat 67 of crimped filaments is then passed, by means of the conveyor belt 54 beneath the needling heat 57 which is caused to oscillate in a vertical movement to cause the barbed needles 58 to penetrate the mat 67. The resulting felt is drawn from the apparatus by means of the nip rollers 61 and 62.

The tow-forming apparatus of the present invention is advantageous in that it can simply and readily be adjusted to enable the formation of a tow of any desired width in which the desired tension is applied to the filaments forming the tow.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A tow-forming apparatus for forming a tow of the desired width by assembling at least one sheet of textile filaments into the tow comprising a pair of lease rods arranged in parallel and side by side relationship and attached at each end to a circular carriage which is rotatable and which is to be arranged in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the sheet of textile filaments to be assembled into the tow, said lease rods being attached to said circular carriage so that the lease rods extend parallel to a diameter of the circular carriage.

2. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 1 in which said circular carriage is rotatable through an angle of at least 90.

3. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 2 in which said circular carriage is rotatable through an angle of 360.

4. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 1 in which the lease rods in said pair of lease rods are carried on carrying members, the carrying members being attached to said circular carriage.

5. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 4 in which one of the lease rods in said pair of lease rods is longer than the other lease rod, the ends of the shorter lease rod being attached to the longer lease rod, and the ends of the longer lease rod forming the carrying members for the pair of lease rods.

6. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 5 in which both of the lease rods in said pair of lease rods are bent to form a substantially rectangular aperture defined by said pair of lease rods.

7. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 4 in which the carrying members are co-axial with the axis of the pair of lease rods.

8. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 7 in which the carrying members are attached to said circular carriage so as to be rotatable.

9. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 8 in which each carrying member is rotatably mounted within an aperture in a bar which is attached to the flat surface of one end of the circular carriage.

10. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 8 in which a grub screw is provided for locking each carrying member in a desired position.

11. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 1 in which said circular carriage is rotatably mounted in a flat metal plate.

12. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 1 in which a grub screw is provided for locking the circular carriage in a desired position.

13. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 11 in which the flat metal plate is mounted on support members which are attached to the sides of the framework in which the apparatus is mounted in such a way that the flat metal plate is movable a short distance horizontally and vertically.

14. A tow-forming apparatus according to claim 1 in which more than one pair of lease rods are provided, the pairs of lease rods being in side by side relationship.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,014,361 1/1912 Aumann 2854 X 2,048,974 7/1936 Smith 2840 2,578,017 12/1951 Rovas 2854 2,680,280 6/1954 White 28-40 X MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

L. K. RIMRODT, Examiner. 

1. A TOW-FORMING APPARATUS FOR FORMING A TOW OF THE DESIRED WIDTH BY ASSEMBLING AT LEAST ONE SHEET OF TEXTILE FILAMENTS INTO THE TOW COMPRISING A PAIR OF LEASE RODS ARRANGED IN PARALLEL AND SIDE BY RELATIONSHIP AND ATTACHED AT EACH END TO A CIRCULAR CARRIAGE WHICH IS ROTATABLE AND WHICH IS TO BE ARRANGED IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF THE SHEET OF TEXTILE FILAMENTS TO BE ASSEMBLED INTO THE TOW, SAID LEASE RODS BEING ATTACHED TO SAID CIRCULAR CARRIAGE SO THAT THE LEASE RODS EXTEND PARALLEL TO A DIAMETER OF THE CIRCULAR CARRIAGE. 